No Weekend at Bernie's,' says boyfriend of woman who died during trip

A Clinton Township man said he is “really stressed” in the aftermath of what happened nearly a week ago when his girlfriend died while he drove from Arizona to Macomb County.

Ray Tomlinson, 62, told The Macomb Daily Saturday that he’s been doubly effected by the suspected drug-overdose death of Christine Gilbert as well as state Adult Protective Services taking custody over his 92-year-old mother who was riding in the van.

“I’m really stressed,” he said over the telephone. “I’m getting over my girlfriend passing away, and I can’t see my mother. I want my mother back home.”

The incident gained national attention, with some people making light of the situation, comparing it to the infamous movie, “Weekend at Bernie’s,” in part because she wore sunglasses and slumped over in her seat.

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“This was nothing like ‘Weekend at Bernie’s,’” Tomlinson said, adding that Gilbert “always wore sunglasses” and was sleeping.

“I haven’t paid much attention to it (the publicity),” he said.

He said he is “distraught” about the death of Gilbert, 31, who he has known for about a year. He said Gilbert had “severe” mental and prescription-drug problems but was “a smart, intelligent” person.

“I’m so distraught,” he said. “I can’t think straight. I loved her and she died.

“She was a very kind and caring individual. She always had a smile on her face and always had a good thing to say and had compassion for homeless people. She was easy to fall in love with.”

Tomlinson discovered Gilbert was deceased in his 2004 Ford Econoline van about 5 a.m. Monday. Police learned about it after a mental heatlh facility called Gilbert’s telephone to check on her, and Tomlinson informed them she had died. He didn’t stop despite police requests to do so in Illinois and at Interstate 94 around Eight Mile Road. He continued driving to his son’s home in Warren, arriving late Monday.

Warren police decided not to seek charges against Tomlinson. Police Commissioner Jere Green said what he did may have been “stupid” but wasn’t illegal.

Tomlinson, a retired real estate broker and appraiser, said he isn’t happy with Green’s comments.

“I’m not stupid,” he said. “I had friends checking on it. I verified the laws. I did nothing illegal. I may have done something out of the ordinary but really not so out of the ordinary.”

Green said Saturday he believes his officers treated him well.

“I think we’ve been considerate, understanding,” he said. “I could have easily presented a warrant request to the prosecutor’s office. But what purpose would that serve? He just made bad decisions. He didn’t try to hide the body or anything.”

Tomlinson said he kept driving mainly because wanted to get his mother, who has “some dementia” and is incontinent, to the comfortable environment of her Clinton Township home, where she resides with him. He said he worried that if he stopped at a hospital, morgue or police station in another state he would have been detained and his mother taken by authorities.

He said driving long distances isn’t unique for him as he has worked in Arizona as a charter bus driver and previously operated a business in Macomb County in which he transported people to doctor appointments.

Michigan APS took custody of his mother Tuesday, Tomlinson said, while he was being interviewed at the Warren police station because Tomlinson didn’t allow her to use the restroom after Gilbert died, and her diapers and a pad were wet.

Tomlinson said he has been dealing with her incontinence for some time. She had a dry pad on another seat in the back of the van for her to sit on, he said.

He said he will try to get her back home.

“The only thing I can do is hire an attorney and battle through it,” he said. He said he has been her caregiver since 2001.

Police suspect that Gilbert died from an overdose. An empty 30-dose OxyContin prescription container was found in the vehicle. Tomlinson said he believes she must have taken pills when he stopped for gas in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Tomlinson said Gilbert was taking multiple medications and has been taking them for years.

“I think it was a mixture,” he said. “Your heart and your body can only take so much.

“The person’s fault for her death was her own. She perpetrated her own death.”

She was in and out of a mental health facility in Aurora, Ariz., nine times during their several-month stay in nearby Sun City, Ariz., he said.

“She has recurring bouts with depression, anger, self-mutilation, attempts at suicide,” he said. “She was a very challenged person.”

He added, however, “Sometimes she did well.”

Tomlinson, who has three adult children, said he believes some of her problems can be traced to her relationship, or lack thereof, with her family in New Jersey. He took her to her hometown to try to reunite them, but it didn’t work.

She had moved with a boyfriend to Macomb County from Florida, he said. Tomlinson said he met her while her boyfriend was in the county Jail and she didn’t have a place to live. She resided with him in a platonic relationship until her boyfriend was released, he said.

The boyfriend also didn’t have a place to live, and they were staying in a field near 23 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue in Chesterfield Township, so Tomlinson said he bought them a tent and sleeping bags. Gilbert after a few days returned to live with Tomlinson, and the relationship turned romantic, he said.

He said he helped Gilbert obtain a driver’s license and ensure she received her Social Security Disability checks.